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Filling Gaps in the Acculturation Gap-Distress Model: Heritage Cultural Maintenance and Adjustment in Mexican–American Families

  • Empirical Research
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Abstract

The acculturation gap-distress model purports that immigrant children acculturate faster than do their parents, resulting in an acculturation gap that leads to family and youth maladjustment. However, empirical support for the acculturation gap-distress model has been inconclusive. In the current study, 428 Mexican–American adolescents (50.2 % female) and their primary caregivers independently completed questionnaires assessing their levels of American and Mexican cultural orientation, family functioning, and youth adjustment. Contrary to the acculturation gap-distress model, acculturation gaps were not associated with poorer family or youth functioning. Rather, adolescents with higher levels of Mexican cultural orientations showed positive outcomes, regardless of their parents’ orientations to either American or Mexican cultures. Findings suggest that youths’ heritage cultural maintenance may be most important for their adjustment.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Tom Weisner for assistance with study design.

Author Contributions

E.T., A.F., N.G. conceived of the study design. E.T. C.Y. performed statistical analyses. E.T., C.Y., N.G., A.F. drafted the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA

    Eva H. Telzer & Cynthia Yuen

  2. Beckman Institute for Science and Technology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, 61820, USA

    Eva H. Telzer

  3. Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

    Nancy Gonzales

  4. Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Andrew J. Fuligni

  5. Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Andrew J. Fuligni

Authors
  1. Eva H. Telzer
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  2. Cynthia Yuen
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  4. Andrew J. Fuligni
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Correspondence to Eva H. Telzer.

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The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures were approved by the Institutional Review Board.

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Informed consent and assent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Telzer, E.H., Yuen, C., Gonzales, N. et al. Filling Gaps in the Acculturation Gap-Distress Model: Heritage Cultural Maintenance and Adjustment in Mexican–American Families. J Youth Adolescence 45, 1412–1425 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-015-0408-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-015-0408-8

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